Device for raising sunken vessels.



v.v1v1ss. DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED )UNE 25,1918- v1,288,108. Y Patented Deo.17,1918.

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V I APPUCATIDN FILED )UNE 25. 91B- Patented Dec. 1T, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 I i Q/ la lo CTI VLADIIVIIR V. MESSER, 0F WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Application filed June 25. 1918.

To all whom t 'may concern.'

Be it known that I, VLADIMIR V. MESSER, a citizen of the United States, residing in VVauwatosa, in the county of Milwaukee and State of vWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in levlces for Raising Sunken Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a device for raising sunken ships, and has for its object to provide a. device of this character which embodies novel features of construction whereby the available power can be utilized in a most effective manner for hoisting a sunken vessel from the bottom of the sea.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a device of this character which can be towed from place to place without difficulty, which is easily operated and has a very powerful lifting force, and which can be quickly brought into operative position and connected to the sunken vessel which it is desired to raise.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view of a de vice for raising sunken vessels constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the rotatable hollow ioat.

Fig. S is a transverse sectional view through the same on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4c is an enlarged sectional view through one of the pumps, the cut off valve being shown by full lines in an open position and by dotted lines in a closed position.

y Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on an enlarged scale through one of the hydraulic compensators.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all Vthe views of the drawings by thersame reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate one possible embodiment of the invention, the numeral l designates a hollow oat Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918. Serial No. 241,777.

which is in the form of a cylindrical shell and rests upon the surface of the water with the main axis thereof in a horizontal position. This hollow float is water-tight and has a tubular standard 2 arranged in an up right position at one .end thereof, the upper end of the standard being open, while the lower end thereof is weighted or other means being provided to hold the standard in an upright position. A. hollow trunnion 3 projects laterally from one side of the standard 2 and extends centrally through the end of the float l into communication with the interior thereof. A ladder 4: is provided upon both the exterior and interior of the standard 2, and in order to get into the interior of the hollow float l it is necessary for a person to descend into the tubular standardv 2 from the top thereof and enter the float through the hollow trunnion 3. A drive shaft 5 extends longitudinally through the hollow iioat l, being journaled within suitable bearings at opposite ends thereof, and being connected to an electric motor 6 which receives power from a generator upon the salvage boat 7. This boat may be an ordinary sea-going tug, and the electric wires 8 from the generator to the motor run from the top of the derrick 9 of the boat 7 to the top of the tubular standard 2, extending into the tubular standard and having the extremities thereof connected to the motor. Provision is thus made for conveying current to the motor to drive the shaft 5.

Arranged within the interior of the hol low float l is a peripheral series of compartments l0 which are connected to each other by substantially Y-shaped passages ll, a suitable pump being provided in each passage for producing a circulation of some fluid such as water through the several compartments. In the present instance this pump is formed by a pair of reversely acting propellers l2 which are arranged in the branches of the draw the water through the arms of the passages and force it through the straight portions thereof, or vice versa. The two propellers l2 of each pump are rigid with a transverse shaft 13 which extends through the arms of the Y-passage, being received within suitable packing boxes 14 and journaled within bearings l5 which combine both a radial and thrust ball bearing construction. One end of each of the shafts is provided with a pulley 16 and the Y-passages l1 and serve to several pulleys each have a rope drive 17 with the main drive shaft 5 which extends centrally through the float. lt will thus be obvious that when the main shaft 5 is driven all of the pumps will be simultaneously operated, and the arrangement of the pumps is such that they tend to produce a circulation of water or otherk fluid with which the compartments 10 are filled. There is only enough of the water or fluid to partially fill the compartments 10, so that when the pumps are set in operation and. the water startedto circulate throughV the compartments, the center of vgravity. of the lioat will be shifted while the center of buoyancy of the .float remains at the geometrical center thereof. A momentof force is thus produced which tends to revolve the oat about its longitudinal axis. The vmagnitude of this turning moment is dependent upon the relative sizes of the water compartments andthe size of the. float itself, and by reversing the pumps the direction of rotation of the float can be reversed. The straight portion of each of the if-passages 11 is provided with a suitable cut-off such as the gate valve 18 so that the water can be prevented from flowing backward through the compartments if the motor becomes deranged or must be stopped for any reason whatever. The eX- terior of the hollow float lis provided with a series of sets lof diiferential spools, each set includingv a large spool 19 and a smaller spool 20, the larger spool 19 being secured to the float by suitable means such as the Z strips 21. A hoisting cable 22 is operatively connected to the spools 19 and 2O of each set, said spools beingshown assubdivided by ribs into helical channels which are adapted to receive the hoisting cable 22 as it is wound upon and unwound therefrom. lVhen the hollowfloat 1 is rotated in one direction the hoisting cables 22 are unwound from the large spools19 and wound upon the` smaller spools 20, thereby producing a slack portion 22a which constantly increases in size. rhe pulleys k23 of the grapple members engage the slack portions 22a of the hoisting cables, and these pulleys, together with the grapple members A carried thereby will be lowered when the float is rotated in the manner indicated above. After the grapple members have been lowered to the proper depth and properly engaged with the hull of the sunken vessel, the pumps 12 of the float are reversed and the direction of rotation of the float correspondingly reversed. rIhe hoisting cables 22 are now wound upon the large spools 19 and` unwound from the smaller spools 20, with the result that the slack portions 22a of thecables are gradually taken up and the grapple members slowly raised. A rery powerful hoisting force is thus brought into play, the magnitude of the force depending upon the difference in diameter between the large spools 19 and the smaller spools 20.

It is essential that the entire weight of the second boat be equally or nearly equally distributed between the several hoistingrcables 22, and for this purpose each of the grapple members is provided with a hydraulic equaliZer or compensator. These compensators each include a cylinder 2-1V which is` filled with some suitable fluid such as Oiland hjas a piston 25 therein, said pistonbeing connected to the upper endof the piston rod v26 which extends downwardly through a stuifing boX 27 in the lower end ofthe cylinder. The piston 26 yis suitably packed at 28 to prevent the oil or fluid within the cylinder from leaking upwardly around the sides of the piston. The piston is providedwith a central chamber 29 communieating with a passage, 30 opening through the ybottom of the piston and also with a passage 31 opening through the-top of thepiston, communication between the vlatter passage and the c chamber being controlled by a valve 32 which is normally held upon its seat by the action of a spring 3S. The head 32a ofthe valve is substantially in the forni of a piston which is slidable within the chamber 29, so lthat when the pressure of the .oil or fluid within the chamber 29 reaches a certain point it will move the valve upwardly against the action of the spring .33 yand open the passage 31, therebyperinitting oil to circulate through the passages and chamber from the lower portion of the cylinder 2i to the upper portion thereof.V rlhe degree .Q pressure necessary to permit thiscirculation of fluid depends upon the. tension of the springs 33, and this can be regulated by adjustingk the plugs 3st which arefthreadedin the piston 25 and against which the upper ends of the springs bear. Thelower elds of the piston rods 26 are connected to the vessel to be raised, and it will be obvious that if upon putting the device into operation oneof the hoisting cables becomes taut Vwhile the other hoisting cables are still loose, all of the power will'beexerted upon one of the grapplemembers, with the resultV that the pressure upon the o il in the cylinder 24 of that particular grapplemember willV be sufficient to open the valve 32 and permit the oil to pass through the piston to the top thereof. The position of the piston within the cylinder will thus be lowered and actual lifting of the sunken vessel delayeduntilall of the hoisting cables are taut and the power lio is substantially equally divided among-thee grapple members. A continual rotation of the hollow slack portions 22a of the hoisting Vca'bles20 ard gradually bringthe 'sunken vessel to the surface.

Vhile I have illustrated and described one float will then slowly take upthe Y preferable embodiment of the principles of my invention, I wish it understood that I do this by way of example only, not wishing to be restricted thereto as changes may be resorted to without departing fromrthe spirit and scope of my invention, as defined by the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A device for raising sunken ships, including a hollow oat, means for continuously circulating a fluid around the periphery of the oat to rotate the float in the water, and hoisting means actuated by the rotation of the float.

2. A device for raising sunken ships, including a hollow fioat, a series of compartments extending around the periphery of the fioat, pumps for producing a continuous circulation of fluid through the compartments to rotate the float bodily in the water, and hoisting means actuated by the rotation of the float.

3. A device for raising sunken ships, including a hollow float, a peripheral series of compartments extending around the oat, pumps between the several compartments, means for simultaneously actuating the pumps to produce a continuous circula-tion of the fluid through the compartments and rotate the float bodily in the water, and hoisting means actuated by the rotation of the float.

4. A device for raising" sunlen ships, including a hollow oat, a peripheral series of compartments extending around the float, pumps between the several compartments, a shaft extending longitudinally through the oat, means for driving the shaft, an operative connection between the shaft and the pumps for simultaneously operating the same to produce a continuous circulation of fluid through the compartments to rotate the float bodily in the water, and hoisting means actuated by the rotation of the float.

5. A device for raising sunken ships, including a hollow float, a peripheral series of compartments extending around the float, circulation pipes connecting the compartments, pumps interposed in the circulation pipes, means for operating the pumps to produce a continuous flow of fluid through the compartments to rotate the float bodily upon the water, valves interposed in the circulation pipes to prevent backward movement of the fluid, and hoisting means actuated by the rotation of the oat.

6. A device for raising sunken ships, including a hollow cylindrical float, means within the Hoat for producing a continuous circulation of fluid around the periphery of the float to rotate the float in the Water, differential spools upon the exterior of the float, and a hoisting cable having the ends thereof Wound upon the differential spools.

VLADIMIR V. MESSER.

Copies of thlspatent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. R 

